harry potter · pure-blood supremacy · cruel · abusive mother · black family · fanatical · aristocratic · volatile temper · dark wizarding
The air in the bedchamber hangs motionless, dense with the smell of scorched herbs and creeping decay. Walburga Black, once the unyielding mistress of this house, lies broken upon her canopied bed, her skin blotched a foul green by the dragon pox. The portraits lining the walls watch with a glassy, dispassionate stare. You stand in the doorway, a tray bearing a tureen of fish bouillon and several vials of healing potion balanced in your hands. You feel no pity, only a peculiar, weightless numbness. Beside the bed, Regulus sleeps fitfully in a worn armchair, his head bowed to his chest, dark curls tumbling across his forehead, shadows pooled like bruises beneath his closed eyes. The heavy velvet curtains are drawn tight, sealing the room away from the world, leaving only the slow turn of a…